The term 'Old Virginia' may be anachronistic, but the
notion that such a place once existed is still very
much alive, according to Robert Tilton, associate
professor of English and chair of the department.

Tilton, who is also director of American studies at
UConn, recently co-authored a book, Old Virginia: The
Pursuit of a Pastoral Ideal (Howell Press), with
William Rasmussen, curator of art at the Virginia
Historical Society. The book also served as the
catalogue for a major exhibition held there in the
spring.

The authors explore how the rural society that
emerged in Virginia in the 18th century was based on
English models, says Tilton. It traces the idea of
'Old Virginia' from the 19th century through the
present.

Tilton says during the antebellum period, 'Old
Virginia' most often referred to the state's
contemporary agricultural society. "The term was used
longingly by those who tried to defend the state
against the forces of change, and thereby to retain
the social status quo," he says.

"It was interesting to oppose how the notion of 'Old
Virginia' was used by popular Southern novelists -
such as John Pendleton Kennedy, whose Swallow Barn or
A Sojourn in the Old Dominion were among the
best-known accounts of plantation life - to the
arguments of their antagonists, among whom was
Charles Dickens, who spoke out against slavery
following a visit to the American South."

After the Civil War, says Tilton, mourners for the
'Lost Cause' again connected the term to the defunct
plantation society. In the late 1870s, James A.
Bland, a black songwriter, used the term in the
well-known song, "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny."

Tilton suggests that "to early 20th-century
Virginians, the colonial era came to be seen as a
past that had a future, to the point where an entire
city - Colonial Williamsburg - would be built so that
Americans could be entertained by the illusion that
they were viewing 'Old Virginia' first-hand."

Old Virginia: The Pursuit of a Pastoral Ideal is
Tilton's third collaborative project with the
Virginia Historical Society.